Gericault: Ritratti di alienati (I monomaniaci)

What do we mean when we talk about madness? How was mental illness considered in the past? If psychiatry often followed diagnostic and treatment methods that we struggle to define as scientific today, these mysterious portraits of the insane—monomaniacs, victims of significant psychiatric disorders—by Géricault are even more surprising. The French Romantic painter depicts them in all their heroic monumentality, dignified despite their physical features marked by illness. 00:00 The Romantic Genius 00:59 Psychiatric Issues 02:44 Étienne-Jean Georget and Jean-Étienne Dominique Esquirol 04:23 Madness and the Demonic, Madness and Reason 05:55 A Roundup of Monomaniacs 06:38 Portraits and Human Dignity 07:37 Alienation and Monomania (Lost Gazes) 09:09 Mental Illness